With England spirits now lifted, Moeen, like he did when batting on Sunday, drew energy from a sparse but vocal crowd and induced a false stroke from Quinton de Kock.

He floated one up wide of off-stump, asking De Kock to drive and which the left-hander duly did but edged to Alastair Cook, who took a good low catch at second slip.

Theunis de Bruyn got in a mess and nicked Moeen to Stokes at slip two balls later, and where at one stage South Africa looked like they would drag the match into the final day – where rain is a distinct possibility – now they will do well to survive the final session.